Stress is a silent disruptor that can significantly impact physical performance, recovery, and overall well-being. Understanding the link between stress and fitness results is crucial for optimizing not only your members’ outcomes, but also your personal health.
The Physiology of Stress
Professional sports and fitness research scientist Dr Jinger Gottschall explains: “Stress, either physical or mental, influences the body’s internal communication system, which is regulated through hormones. These messengers send information through the blood and affect multiple processes that influence fat and muscle mass. Our body is constantly balancing hormone release based on our daily actions and reactions.
“One of the primary stress hormones is cortisol. In terms of function, cortisol can help control blood sugar, regulate metabolism and reduce inflammation. Thus, short-term elevation of cortisol has positive effects, such as building and repairing muscle. Long-term elevation has negative effects, such as intense fatigue and joint pain.
“Acute stress causes a quick release of cortisol which stimulates the use of carbohydrates and fat while maintaining your blood sugar. The end result of this process is an accurate control of appetite where you eat the proper amount to refuel with a concurrent increase in metabolism. Chronic stress causes a steady release of cortisol and an imbalance in hormone regulation. In response, there is an inaccurate control of appetite which can lead to eating too much, with a decrease in metabolism.”
The Impact of Stress on Fitness
“Physical activity is one form of stress,” says Gottschall. “The ideal Les Mills exercise routine of 3-4 cardio classes per week (BODYATTACK™, BODYCOMBAT™, BODYSTEP™, BODYJAM™, LES MILLS DANCE™, RPM™), 2-3 strength (BODYPUMP™, LES MILLS STRENGTH DEVELOPMENT™, LES MILLS CORE™, LES MILLS PILATES™), and 1-2 high intensity (LES MILLS GRIT™, LES MILLS SPRINT™) can initiate the maintenance of an ideal bodyweight through multiple bursts of cortisol. But is it possible there could be too much of a good thing? Too many classes and too much cortisol? YES!
“Eventually, this cycle develops into a condition called overreaching, with indications such as unhealthy food cravings, negative mood, and reduced sleep. Together, these symptoms can cause weight gain. In the most extreme scenario, overreaching can transition into overtraining with detrimental consequences to metabolism that are difficult to reverse. A simple, steadfast rule for everyone that will help avoid these outcomes is to plan at least one full day off of exercise per week. Two sleep cycles without classes, (including BODYBALANCE™) is optimal in order to promote recovery.”
Track your data
As an Instructor, these strategies can be difficult to implement, particularly if teaching Les Mills classes is a significant part of your financial wellbeing, says Gottschall. “If this is the case and you complete over the recommended physical activity guidelines from above, track heart rate during a typical week of activity with a Polar chest transmitter. Evaluate your total exercise time above 90% heart rate max. If you are in this zone over 10% of your total exercise time, consider ways to reduce high intensity. For example, if you instruct GRIT or SPRINT multiple times per week, make a conscious effort to spend more time floor coaching, especially when your participants are familiar with the programs. Or during vigorous intensity cardio programs such as BODYATTACK or BODYSTEP, spend a few additional repetitions on lower intensity options.
“When analyzing your own goals, as well as speaking to your members or clients about lack of progress, if you can rule out nutrition, consider stress. In addition to physiological stress from over-exercising, individuals may be experiencing extended psychological stress from their personal or professional lives. Stress is a complex issue. Understanding how we can educate others on how to use group training as a positive physical stress to reduce the negative mental stress will naturally assist in improving health, including fat loss and muscle gain.”
HOW NATASHA VINCENT HANDLES STRESS
Balancing motherhood with teaching, presenting on Masterclass, her own training, and her role as Group Fitness Manager at Les Mills Auckland City doesn’t leave Natasha Vincent much downtime. To ensure she can give her best to all roles, Tash is careful to balance out her training and give herself time to prepare for more demanding events like LES MILLS LIVE BERLIN.
“I used to always experience burnout during filming week, because I would go from doing my normal volume of classes into a massive week of rehearsals. For Berlin, I worked with [Technical Consultant] Rob Lee and [Personal Trainer] Corey Baird to ensure my training was well-rounded and we could slowly build up to the volume of filming week. This meant making sure I had all the components of strength, cardio, core and mobility in my week, and then gradually adding in extra workouts so that by the time filming came around, my body had adapted to the demands of the additional volume.”
Tash returned to filming nine months after giving birth, which she now acknowledges she wasn’t ready for.
“I went from training 1-2 times a week to a full filming week for BODYCOMBAT™ and LES MILLS GRIT™ Cardio. By day two I was ruined. I was still rebuilding my fitness and juggling life as a new mum and the rehearsals were too much, physically and mentally. Out of eight years of filming, this was by far the worst. I was pushing for fitness I just didn’t have, and my body wasn’t responding. I got injured that week and it took me several weeks to recover – it was the biggest burnout ever.”
As Group Fitness Manager, Tash advises Instructors to review their teaching / training schedule and ensure they’ve got a good balance of strength, cardio, core and mobility.
“It can be easy as Instructors to take on another strength class, or another cardio, but it’s really important to make sure you’ve got a routine that cares for your body and isn’t too heavy on one thing. And if you do have a week where you take on more than usual – covers, launches etc – then think about how you de-load from that week and then build back up to normal. We often do far more exercise than professional athletes, and they schedule in lots of recovery and periods of de-loading. If every day for you is a high-performance day, then of course you’re going to burn out. That’s been my biggest learning this year. I used to just use my classes for training, but now I attend other people’s classes to ensure my training is balanced.”
